Coffee Shop Hop in Raleigh and Cary, NC

Man! It has been quite some time since our last post. The end of the semester craziness hit, and although we continued visiting shops, I had no time to write. Will and I are back home in NC for winter break and I finally have some time to get y'all caught up on all of our coffee shop adventures.

Let's take it back to October 29th. Will and I went to Raleigh, NC with our family for the weekend and while our mom was at a conference, our dad, little brother, and the two of us went on a coffee shop adventure throughout the NC Research Triangle. We visited a total of three coffee shops that day and rated each one. We thought it would be fun to share our findings with y'all and take this thing outside of Louisville.

Our first stop was Coffee & Crepes in Cary. We were not too impressed with this coffee shop. Some of us were less impressed than others, but overall we all decided it was definitely not somewhere we would return. The atmosphere was a little awkward and the coffee was not too tasty. I'll just leave it at that....

Atmosphere: 12/35

Coffee: 15/35

Food: 8/10

Wow Factor: 6/15

Parking:5/5

Total: 49/100

Our second stop was BREW Coffee Bar which was also in Cary. We liked this shop much more than the previous one, but it still did not hit the spot for us. BREW is in a neat location in downtown Cary, but has a very small space in a building that it shares with other businesses. I am sure this is great for those who want to grab some coffee on the way to work, but it made it difficult to sit and relax. The coffee at BREW was pretty good. The boys got pour-over and I got a latte. One thing at BREW that we have not seen anywhere else is their neat coffee cup lids (pictures below). They look like a kid's sippy cup lid, but we all found them pretty cool and easy to drink out of. We would go back to BREW for a quick cup, but would not make this a destination point.

Atmosphere: 22/35

Coffee: 29/35

Food: 6/10

Wow Factor: 7/15

Parking: 2/5

Total: 66/100

Our third and final stop was Sola Coffee and Cafe. We LOVED this place. Sola is not a coffee shop like others that we have visited. It is much more of a cafe. We ate lunch here and it was delicious. The atmosphere was awesome and it was super fun and eclectic. Sola is a place that would work for a lunch date or a study session. We would all totally return to Sola.

Atmosphere: 32/35

Coffee:

Food: 10/10

Wow Factor: 13/15

Parking: 5/5

Total:

This was such a fun day that the four of us spent together! We were exhausted at the end, but it was definitely worth it! We tried to go to a few more shops but couldn't find parking, so after driving all over Raleigh and Cary we ended up with these three. These are all very different coffee shops and it was fun to visit some shops in different cities. It was also fun to share our coffee shop hop with our dad and little brother. If you are traveling to Raleigh or the surrounding area for any reason, we seriously recommend checking out Sola Coffee and Cafe.

Coffee & Crepes

315 Crossroads Blvd

Cary, NC

27518

BREW Coffee Bar

122 E. Chatham Street

Cary, NC

Sola Coffee and Cafe

7705 Lead Mine Road

North Raleigh, NC

27615